European Commission To Investigate Samsung’s 3G Patent Case Against Apple

Samsung is trying to get the iPhone 4S banned in Australia, the company is accusing Apple of violating some of its 3G patents, which Apple holds licenses for, but Samsung says they licenses don’t apply in Australia.

Now it would appear that the European Commission is interested in Samsung’s case against Apple, and the case could possibly land Samsung in trouble with the EU, as they are investigation whether the case against Apple violates EU competition laws.

This is the most important development to date related to the world-spanning dispute between these two companies. This investigation has the potential to force Samsung to withdraw most of its claims against Apple, but let’s not forget that the underlying issue concerns the technology industry at large. Everyone — not just Apple — relies on FRAND standards.

This could be bad news for Samsung, as if the have licensed the patents to Apple in some countries, and then decided to sue Apple for the Same patents in other countries, the EU could end up taking a dim view on this.